Mammography is a screening test for breast cancer. It’s used to find breast cancer early (before it causes any warning signs or symptoms), when the chances of survival are highest.

Regular mammography (along with follow-up tests and treatment if diagnosed) can reduce the chance of dying from breast cancer. However, the risks and benefits are not the same for all women.

There are still questions related to:

• How much benefit mammography offers
• The over-diagnosis and over-treatment of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and small, slow-growing invasive breast cancers

This has led to different recommendations for when to start getting screening mammograms and how often to have them.

Benefits of mammography

The benefits of screening mammography vary by age. Women ages 50-69 get the most overall benefit for a number of reasons [22].

For example, breast cancer in women younger than 50 is much less common than breast cancer in women 50 and older [1].

Getting regular screening mammograms lowers the risk of dying from breast cancer, but it doesn’t completely remove the risk.

Although the benefits of mammography are real, a woman who gets regular mammograms may still be diagnosed with breast cancer and unfortunately, may still die from the disease.

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